Columbus School of Law

Before joining academia, Professor Leary worked primarily on issues addressing the exploitation of children and women, child pornography, child prostitution, computer facilitated crimes against children, and the investigation and prosecution of family violence cases. As both a state and federal prosecutor, Professor Leary focused on family violence and sexual assault, but successfully prosecuted on the trial and appellate levels, an array of criminal cases. She is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and has served as deputy chief of the Domestic Violence Unit for the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Leary also served as an assistant district attorney in the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. Early in her career, Professor Leary clerked for the Hon. Sue L. Robinson in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

 

Professor Leary's scholarship examines the intersection of contemporary social problems, criminal law, and criminal procedure. She focuses on areas of exploitation and abuse of women, children, and “vulnerable peoples.” Her publications include, but are not limited to, New Frontier in Debate Over Child Pornography Sentencing? Judicial Challenges to Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Sex Offender Law Report, Vol. 13, No. 1 (2011); Reasonable Expectations of Privacy for Youth in a Digital Age - What if Savana Redding had a Cell Phone?, Mississippi Law Review, Vol. 80, No. 3 (2011); Sexting or Self- Produced Child Pornography? The Dialogue Continues - Structured Prosecutorial Discretion within a Multidisciplinary Response, University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law,Vol. 17 (2010); Mulieris Dignitatem: An Exploration of Dignity in a Protected Speech Paradigm, Ave Maria Law Review, Vol. 8, Issue 2 (Spring 2010); Death to Child Erotica, Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender, Vol. 16, No. 1 (2009); Kennedy v. Louisiana: A Chapter of Subtle Changes in the Supreme Court's Book on the Death Penalty, Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 21, No. 2 (2008); Self-Produced Child Pornography: The Appropriate Legal and Societal Response to Juvenile Self Exploitation, University of Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, Vol. 15, No. 1 (2008); The Role of The Intimate Partner Violence Professional in Criminal Prosecutions, Intimate Partner Violence: Resource for Professionals Working With Children and Families, G.W. Medical Publishing (2010) (Book Chapter).

 

Her current work in progress addresses reasonable expectations of privacy in the context of satellite imaging technology. She is also co-authoring a book on missing persons cases.

 

In 2008 Professor Leary served as the head of delegation for the Holy See at the III World Congress Against the Exploitation of Children and Adolescents. She has addressed audiences both nationally and internationally including, but not limited to, at the World Congress in Brazil, The University of Virginia, University of Mississippi, Syracuse University, The University of Leeds (England), The Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, The Child Abuse Group of the Pediatric Academic Society, the CBI Academy in Delhi, India, The National Association of Attorneys General, and numerous other conferences. Professor Leary has been a lecturer for NCMEC, the National Law Center for Children and Families, the National Advocacy Center, National Judicial College, The National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law, and the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She has served as a member of several advisory boards and currently sits on the National Coalition for the Prevention of Child Sexual Exploitation and on the Network of Support for Generation Safe at ikeepsafe.com.

 

Professor Leary is a sought after commentator for numerous media outlets and has provided commentary to platforms including, but not limited to the New York Times, C-Span National Journal, National Public Radio, The Legal Times, Wall Street Journal Online, Gannet Newspapers, and CNET News.

 

She is the 2011-12 recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence in Early Career from The Catholic University of America. In 2010 and 2011 the graduating classes selected professor Leary as their Faculty Marshall.  In 2009, the students of Catholic University's law school named Professor Leary Teacher of the Year. She is also the recipient of the Mary, Mirror of Justice Award (2009).

 

She received her B.A. from Georgetown University and earned her J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.